Magazine Article
| June 19, 2012

Persistence Nets IP Surveillance Deal

By Pedro Pereira, Business Solutions magazine

An integrator’s persistence and timely follow-up with a private school leads to a new client.

Today, securing a new client requires persistence and timely follow-up, and that’s exactly what worked for systems integrator United Security Alliance (USA). After three years of periodic follow-up, USA reconnected with a private school in Miami at the right time to discuss the replacement of an existing analog surveillance system with IP megapixel cameras, wireless technology, and video management software.

The school, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, is located on a 30-acre campus. “The timing wasn’t right initially, as is frequently the case,” recalls Terry Ottinger, president of USA. “The sales representative developed a relationship with the business manager of the school and several others over a period of time. In a subsequent conversation with them, they said the project had been turned over to IT for sourcing.”

It was September 2011, and the school's IT staff
had just started to review video surveillance options.
The IT staff had been in touch with two of USA's
competitors, and that meant there was no
time to waste. Already familiar with the
school's needs, USA quickly drew up
a proposal that ultimately won the bid
to deploy 40 Arecont Vision IP cameras,
4 Cisco wireless bridges, and a
Geutebrück video management system
with advanced search-and-review
capabilities.

Ottinger says, "They had specific questions
about recorded video with
search-and-review capabilities. We
demonstrated that capability for
them when others weren't able to."
USA's 24/7 post-installation client
support, its fix-or-replace warranty,
and the relationship it had developed with the client
also weighed in on the decision, Ottinger says.

High-Quality Video For
Security And Asset Monitoring
The Arecont Vision cameras were installed to keep
an eye on the external areas of the campus as well as
interior areas such as hallways with student lockers.
Cameras deployed around school grounds included
2-, 3-, and 5-megapixel models, some of which have
day-and-night capabilities. Also included were seven
180-degree, panoramic, 8-megapixel cameras for some
of the interior and exterior areas.

Ottinger says Arecont cameras offer features such as
on-camera compression that reduces infrastructure and
storage requirements. Most cameras don't offer that
level of compression, which is processed in the management
system. Arecont cameras also have low-light
capability for nighttime picture color in dimly lit areas,
while most cameras switch over to black and white in
those settings.

The school wanted megapixel cameras that produce
high-quality video for two main reasons — security
and asset monitoring. Specifically, the school wanted to
protect laptops issued to students. Students carry their
equipment, including books and laptops, in backpacks
that often are identical. If a student picks up someone
else's backpack by mistake, figuring out who is the
actual owner can be difficult. With 1,000 iPads on order
for students at the time of the video surveillance installation,
the school considered advanced search a priority.

With the Arecont cameras and the "smart search"
capability of the Geutebrück video management
software, matching backpack and owner takes only
minutes, says Ottinger. Looking at footage from the
cameras, a user "can draw a box on the screen where
the book bag was and you ask the system to do a
reverse search that goes back to find out when that bag
was there," he explains. Seconds later, the system finds
the instant when the bag was set down and the owner
is identified.

More Business On The Way
USA designed and deployed the surveillance system for
Belen Jesuit in about six weeks. The project included
two USA engineers who designed the system and four
of USA's Arecont/Geutebrück certified technicians who
performed the installation. One day was spent training
the school's staff on the system.

Ottinger says feedback from the school has been positive,
and Belen Jesuit has asked USA to install six more
cameras to cover additional areas of need, identified
since the original installation. By using Belen Jesuit as
a reference, says Ottinger, USA also is working on a
number of new sales opportunities. "We are currently
working with a number of private schools around the
country on deploying similar systems," he says.